Tyler, Wat

(died 1381)

English leader of the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. After capturing Canterbury, he led the rebels to Blackheath and took London. During a conference with the young king Richard II he put forward the rebels’ demands (including the lifting of the newly imposed poll tax), to which Richard consented. At a later conference in Smithfield he was killed by the Lord Mayor of London and several other royal supporters.